Boys lacrosse: Maranacook/Winthrop remains undefeated with road win against Oak Hill co-op

WALES — Goalie Lucas Woodruff backstopped the Maranacook/Winthrop boys lacrosse team to a 13-7 victory over Oak Hill/Monmouth/Lisbon/St. Dom’s in a showdown of two of the state’s top Class C teams Monday.

Woodruff stopped 17 of the 24 shots he faced.

Senior Owen Lyons scored three goals for the Hawks (7-0). The second was the 100th of his career.

“Our word to describe him is silky — you don’t know he’s there, you don’t notice too much,” Winthrop/Maranacook coach Daniel Brannigan said. “He’s just a guy that, when it matters, he will find the openings and he will get there. If he’s not an All-American this year, I don’t know what an All-American is.”

Lyons said the individual awards don’t mean as much to him as beating Oak Hill (3-3) for the first time in six games attempts.

This season is Brannigan’s first as head coach for Maranacook/Winthrop, but he’s no stranger to the Oak Hill boys lacrosse program, having graduated from and played for the Raiders from 2004-2008 and was the team’s head coach from 2012-2015.

“Obviously it’s my first year here, but last year, they (Maranacook/Winthrop) had a bad taste in their mouth,” Brannigan said. “I think Lukas (Bergeron) put 13 or 14 on them last year, so they knew what was happening and they knew what they were playing for.”

The first quarter ended with the Hawks leading 3-2. Caleb Morgan was first to put points on the board, scoring two of his three goals in the first. Jacob Lyons added the other Maranacook/Winthrop goal.

For the Raiders, Lukas Bergeron and Gage Spier both scored.

Oak Hill coach David Snyder said the team “dug themselves in,” in the first half, making it hard to match the offensive output by the Hawks.

“We hadn’t really seen anything of them, we only played one common opponent, I think between the two of us,” Snyder said. “We weren’t really sure what to expect, but had a general idea.”

Monday’s loss was the third in a row for the Raiders, and Snyder said that’s a testament to the tougher midseason schedule.

“We started off really hot, which I was really happy with,” Snyder said. “The last few games gave been (against) really good opponents, and I think it’s good experience for us to see what (it’d look like) if we do make it in the postseason.”

The Oak Hill co-op’s other two losses were against Class B Messalonskee and Class A Scarborough.

Woodruff, meanwhile, said he had a pretty good idea of the types of shots he’d face in the cage, and he knew that Bergeron would go “overhand to dunk it down low.”

“I noticed they (Oak Hill) didn’t like to shoot outside as much,” Woodruff said. “They come in towards the crease and get the best shot possible. Obviously, they knew what they were doing (by) getting in that close, you have the best chance of scoring.”

In the second quarter, Morgan, Owen Lyons, Jacob Lyons and Bennett Ross all found the back of the net for the Hawks, giving the team a 7-4 lead going into halftime. Oak Hill’s Adam Hinkley scored two goals within two minutes to keep the Raiders in the battle.

Owen Lyons said the energy picking up after each goal scored was the dominant factor in Monday’s game for Maranacook/Winthrop. He also said that the attackers and midfielders were successful at “moving the ball quick, finding the open guy and just getting shots.”

Defensively, Brannigan said Woodruff played a big role in keeping Oak Hill scoring more goals and causing a tighter game.

“We’ve been grinding hard,” Brannigan said about Woodruff. “He has come a long way already this season. He puts in probably as much weekend work as anybody else does, and we’ve still got some things that we got to work on with him, but he has had a number of huge saves.”

Woodruff said the Hawks’ defense is the reason he’s able to make saves on point-blank shots.

“They’re a really good group of guys, I wouldn’t be where I am without them,” Woodruff said. “They made my life a lot easier, and it’s easier knowing I have defense I can trust, so that I can focus on doing my job and earning their trust. You just can’t keep your head down after one shot, there’s always next time. Don’t let that discourage you, and play for the guys around you.”

The third quarter was slow offensively on both ends, with each squad netting only one goal. The Raiders took nine shots on goal, but couldn’t finish due to Woodruff logging his best quarter with eight saves. The Hawks still led 8-5 going into the last quarter.

Dylan Spier scored for Oak Hill in the third, which the first of his career.

The Hawks fired away in the fourth quarter and added five goals. Owen Lyons scored two, Jacob Lyons scored one and Ethan Chilton scored the final goal for Maranacook/Winthrop.

Bennett Ross tallied a game-high three assists. Brannigan said the Hawks have a long-term mindset for the remainder of the season, with all eyes on the playoffs in June.

“We all know — we’ve talked every day in practice — we’re not playing for today, we’re playing for June 15,” Brannigan said. “We’re planning to go compete for a state title.”